Our DIY Wedding: Where it's at

The three venues we had to consider for our big day were the hotel, the church, and the reception. And since our guests were one of our priorities, we had to make sure that the venues must be:

• accessible to majority of the guests
• near each other, preferably only in one city (so I wouldn't have to be drawing several maps, and so guests won't be caught in traffic jams)
• near the routes of public transportation (for guests who will commute)
• spacious enough to hold our 200 guests

We were not very picky with the hotel, since that would only be used for the pre-ceremony photo shoot and for resting right after the event. What my husband and I really took into consideration was the church and reception.

The church we chose:

• was minutes away to and from the hotel and reception venue
• was spacious (seating as well as parking)
  
• was not near roads with heavy traffic (to maintain the solemnity of the ceremony)
  
• had satisfactory ventilation (good enough for a 4pm event)
• had a tricycle terminal that can take you to the reception venue
• had the altar repainted recently
• had a long aisle
• had nice lighting for the photographers

The reception venue, on the other hand:

• had a seating capacity for 200 people
• had enough parking space
• was near a road with jeeps going in and out of the city
  
• was free!
  

We struck a good deal with the owner of the reception venue, who also happened to be our caterer. One of the reception halls they offered had no rental fee, and so we chose that. And for booking 200 guests, we were offered the services of a wedding singer or host for free. I didn't want anyone singing at my wedding because I just wanted great pipe-in music (I prepared my own CD). Neither did I want a host to whom I'm not related in any way. So I just traded that for the rental of their bridal car, which further slashed the costs.

Of course, we just didn't choose this caterer for the freebies. They served good food. What's more, they had clean dinnerware. I've heard from other people that cutlery and glasses in some wedding receptions they've attended were not that clean, so I really kept that in mind when I chose them. I'll be writing more about my caterer in another post.